The following editorial recently appeared in the Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News.

Even by government standards, it is a colossally dumb idea: revoking someone's license to work as a way to get them to pay off their student loans. Yet many states do just that.

Student loan debt has more than doubled since 2009 to $1.3 trillion today. The average borrower in the class of 2016 left campus more than $30,000 in debt -- triple the level from 1990, while earnings for newly minted grads have remained flat.